


Roll The Dice

by NightmareAmpersand



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Dimension Travel, Metagaming
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-13
Updated: 2015-11-13
Packaged: 2018-05-01 10:02:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5201714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightmareAmpersand/pseuds/NightmareAmpersand
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One day, through unknown circumstances, Katherine and her younger sister Melanie find themselves in a strange new world, one where they must survive beasts, magic, and no central air conditioning.  Kathy is horrified and wants desperately to return to a life of comfort, weekend-long parties, and spring break in the Bahamas with her friends.  Mel is quite happy to learn that her imaginary world is real, but perfection is a long way off with Kathy's whining and complaining and messing with booze and artifacts she's not leveled high enough to use.  Can they find their way back to the real world?  In the meantime, can Kathy learn to like this world?  Who knows?</p>
<p>Well, I don't know either.  I've been writing sections with Kathy and Mel for over 10 years now, but they still haven't settled into a longer story.  Maybe they will someday, but until then we can still enjoy the ridiculous situations they get themselves in to.  They're arranged in a rough canonical timeline, but I've written them completely out of sequence.  Future edits will include which chapters I've had to shuffle around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Forgiving Ineptitude

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is only a Teen rating for some language and sibling violence.
> 
> While both of these girls are close to real life experiences, neither one is very accurate and far more fun to write without bring up bad memories and boring everyone else. 
> 
> This chapter is the closest I've ever gotten to the point where they crossed over from Earth to D&D, and I haven't really thought about HOW this happened. Maybe if they get their own story...

"Damnit!" Kathy threw down her MP3 player, frustrated beyond all belief. "Mel, my MP3 player isn't working anymore!"

Mel looked up from the careful cutting of her hair, giving her a look she usually reserved for very moronic children. "Kathy, we are in the middle of nowhere, in a place of magic and the sword. You are supposed to be on the lookout for any beasts or men that might come this way before we are ready, while I am working on disguises and identities for the both of us. I have a few more pressing concerns than your stupid MP3 player."

"But Mel, I can't concentrate unless I'm listening to my Britney Spears loop!"

Mel sighed, picking herself up from the ground. She looked rather odd at the moment, with half of her long brown hair cut by a sword up above her shoulders, and the other half unbound and free-flowing. "Fine Kath, lemme see." She retrieved the discarded piece of electronics from the ground and turned it over, pressing a few buttons. "There's your problem...its battery is gone."

"Well, give me some more batteries."

Mel gave a long-suffering sigh and looked as if she was truly fighting the urge to break either the MP3 player or her sister's neck. "Like I have said before, Kathy...and please pay attention this time, though I know it's difficult for you after five seconds...we are not in a place you are used to. We are in a place where we have to learn how to cope without certain things...running water, central air conditioning, cars, and most importantly, electricity. There is no way for me to get you any batteries for your stupid MP3 player."

"Oh, I see what this is about," she huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You do, do you? Then by all means, Kathy, please explain to me what this is about."

"You're jealous." Ignoring the incredulous look on her little sister's face, she pressed on, tapping her finger on Mel's nose at the important points. "You're jealous that mom and dad gave that to me last Christmas, when I know you really wanted it. You just want it all for yourself, so you're going to tell me that you can't get any batteries, and as soon as my back is turned, you're going to run to Wal-Mart, get some new double-A batteries, and listen to it all you want while you laugh behind my back. You think I'm stupid, but I know how you work. You have nothing more than the jealous little sister syndrome." She nodded, taking the dumbfounded look on Mel's face with pride. She knew that she had that right...it was something she tried before, when she said she was just going to program the player for easier access to all her favorite songs.

"I...you...I..."

"I know, and I forgive you, little sister." She patted Mel on the head kindly, truly not very upset that she tried the same thing again. After all, all those stupid RPG games, all that time with her nose in books and eyes on dice rolls, which had to do something to the brain after the while. The teacher mentioned it in health class...something like dissociative disorder, where one couldn't distinguish between reality and fantasy anymore. Feeling proud of both her knowledge and the fact that she was such a forgiving big sister, she turned and looked out into the apparent wilderness. "Okay, all you have to do to make up for it is let me know where the road is. I know you wouldn't come out all this way without one of your little friends ready to pick you up at a certain time...oh, and I won't even tell mom and dad that it's your own fault your hair looks so hideous now..."

Her kindness was cut short as she was roundly and very thoroughly beaten in the head with what felt like the pommel of the dagger Mel was using. Letting out a cry of pain and covering the tender spot, she whirled in place to face her, now very angry. Mel was indeed standing there, dagger in hand, red in the face, and breathing like a winded buffalo like she did when she was very angry herself. "Mel, what in the blazing hell was that..."

This time she was knocked solidly to the ground by nothing more than her fist. She had to marvel for a second at how strong her little sister really was...who knew that a year of martial arts (which she quit, claiming she didn't have time for it) could really be so deadly? She tried to feel indignant, even angry, but at the moment all she felt was pain from the two blows to the head and Mel had gone strangely fuzzy and was surrounded by bright, multicolored stars...

"Kathy, you are very damn lucky that I feel some sense of responsibility for where we are now, otherwise I would have absolutely no compunction about leaving you to wolves and bandits...which, by the way, have about a 30% chance of showing up either today or tomorrow. As it is..." She heard her plop her fat butt down near her head, and heard the familiar snik-snik of the dagger cutting hair again. "You stay there while I finish up what I need to do; you'll be the best help that way. Oh, and I guess I'll heal your head once I'm done too. Now..." The cutting sounds stopped, and she heard her sister speak in a surprisingly soft voice, though it was in that weird language she invented for "spells". All at once she felt incredibly drowsy, as if she'd downed two doses of Nyquill at once. Between that and the pain, it was very easy to let sleep carry her off.

"And anyways..." she faintly heard Mel say before she drifted off. "I forgive you for being such an inept big sister and never listening to what is true. It's in your nature, I guess..."


	2. Party Statistics

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Teen rating for conversations about alcohol and prophylactics.
> 
> Kathy learns that some statistics can be fun, but that she still doesn't really care.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Never gotten as bad as Kathy, thank goodness, but I have had the conversation about condoms and illusionists a few more times than I'm comfortable with.

Kathy couldn't see what Mel was getting so worked up about. After all, this wasn't the first time she'd come back into their bedroom after a heavy night of partying, drinking, and being around the guys. And every other time, Mel had simply hauled her into the bathroom, cleaned her up, and hauled her back to bed. This time seemed different, however. Even through the alcoholic haze, she could tell that Mel was not just annoyed, but royally pissed about something.

Most likely, it was something she did. It always ended up that way. 

"All right, Mel, I know I'm blitzed, sho what're you gonna be pished about today?"

"For starters..." Uh oh. She recognized that tone of voice. She had messed up big time, and she was gonna pay. Definitely not the best way to kill off an excellent buzz. "ASIDE from the usual habits you've slipped back into...and I'd honestly thought you'd changed, with the time we've spent here...not ONLY have you given in to your irresponsible behavior again, but you neither consulted me nor..."

"Wait a shecond! When've I ever needed to conshult you 'bout my love life?"

"NOR did you heed my warnings in the first place! I TOLD you that guy was at LEAST a seventh level illusionist, AND that he was using magic to seduce you! He could've been anyone! He could've been out to kill us! I TOLD you, I don't have True Seeing yet! I can't tell you if someone's who they appear to be or not."

"Well...at leasht I ushed proteschion..."

"Yeah, right...natural lambskin condoms, which in this day and age have a 25% chance of preventing pregnancy. TWENTY-FIVE PERCENT! Right here in black and white!" She jabbed her finger into a blurred line of writing in one of her many game books that she carried around with her everywhere. "How the hell are you supposed to fight if you're carrying one in the oven? How the hell would I explain this to mom and dad?"

"You should exsplain to mom and dad how we got here in the firsht plashe, Mel...one of your shtupid gamshes..."

"How we...well who was the one who poked her nose into something she shouldn't have? Always blaming me for everything, even after I pull your butt out of the fire every single..."

Whatever else she was going to tirade on about would have to wait, Kathy thought. The floor, where she couldn't even remember ending up on in the first place, was nice and comfy at that moment, the perfect place to sleep off the impending headache that was forming after such a luscious night of partying.


	3. Surprising Surprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Teen rating for mentions of drug use and hanging around strange men.
> 
> School is boring. School with a bunch of old wizards is a lot worse. School with a bunch of old wizards that produces a happy, smiling, and nice Mel is downright terrifying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think they would have been in this world for about a year by this point, which gives them enough time to get used to their own quirks along with the weirdness of this world so that even Kathy can survive. Kathy makes a good point, though...with all that power, you rarely see a wizard's home with air conditioning.

Kath sat in the back of the tiered auditorium, slumped down in her seat, not even trying to fight back the yawn that escaped every few minutes. It must have been a billion degrees inside the stuffy tower...she felt a little annoyed that, for wizards, they sure didn't see the need to do something about the important necessities of life, like running water and air conditioning. The old geezer up in front was droning on and on and on, mostly in a language she didn't understand, and the rest of the time in language she didn't care to understand. 

Kicking the back of the bench in front of her earned her only an irritated glance from one of the attending wizards, but it was about the only way to relieve the frustration she felt at that moment. She'd figured she'd be done with school since they'd come to this realm, wherever here was, but no...Mel had dragged her to one 'symposium' after another, claiming that any one of these could hold the key to taking them back to their real home (which Mel seemed to delight in telling her that that was the only place she could survive, and not do it very well there either). 

Sighing and pushing her hair off her sweaty neck, she leaned her head back against the hard stone wall and closed her eyes, only half listening to the droning of the wizard up in front. Really, she had more important things she could be doing than sitting here wasting time...she could have gotten them a room at an inn, gotten something to eat, gotten a bath, or take any one of the few luxuries this godforsaken land offered her. Of course, not that all of the features of this land were bad... She grinned to herself as she recalled their last stay in a town, something Mel had called a merchant town, where there were men of every nationality and persuasion looking at her, and not being shy about it either. It was like spring break, sneaking out that night from the window of their room, joining up with one of the caravans that offered her some drink and some company...that was certainly the way to live. Maybe it was time to introduce her baby sister to some of the wonders that life (and men) could offer...as far as she knew, Mel had never even thought about herself in that way, let alone looked at another guy that way. But then again, with the guys she had a tendency to hang out with, it was no surprise. She wouldn't have touched any one of those guys if her life and her sanity and the survival of the human race depended on it.

Kath returned her thoughts to the wonderful men of that caravan she'd stayed with for the night and the better part of the next day, before Mel found her wandering near the inn. They'd given her the time of her life, and it was a pity they were going in the opposite direction that she and Mel were going. Perhaps it wasn't too late; if she got a horse and followed it back, she could possibly catch up with the caravan. They'd offered her a place and promised her riches when they returned to their homeland...how could any girl pass that up? And those mushrooms...oh, they could do things with those mushrooms that she never dreamed could be done before.

"Kath? Kath? Kathy, c'mon, wake up...it's time to go."

She opened her eyes, wincing at the now-harsh afternoon sun streaming in from the high window, and saw Mel above her, shaking her with only the slightest trace of irritation on her face. Shaking her head and pulling herself up, working the kinks out of her neck, she wondered what Mel had learned to put her in such a good mood. Normally she would have been slapped at least twice with no further question about it. Mel looked at her with a trace of amusement, in fact...and now Kathy was really starting to become worried.

"Well, Mel? Learn anything useful?"

"Not enough to get us home, no, but I got some good ideas from listening to the lecture." Kath followed her down the tiers and out the door, through the veritable maze the tower made up to get to the outside. While Kathy smiled and waved at the men who looked appraisingly at her, she noticed that none of the men looked twice at her little sister. Likely as not, they still thought she was her little brother, and deserved not a second thought...which was how Mel wanted it to be, but Kathy couldn't help the little twinge of guilt she felt that she was having such a good time and Mel wasn't.

"So, what now? Do we move on?"

"I don't know. Our supplies are getting kind of low...we may need to stay here a couple of days and barter for some stuff."

"Oh, wonderful. And where do you expect us to sleep in the meantime?"

"I've made arrangements."

Kathy couldn't shake the uneasiness that plagued her about her little sister's unusually easy-going nature that afternoon. Normally this meant something rather unpleasant was coming up.

"We're not sleeping in a gutter, I hope you know that."

"I know."

"And I refuse to spend one more night sleeping on the ground...you promised that we'd sleep in beds when we were in town."

"I know, Kath."

Mel still wore that slightly irritating peaceful smile, and now Kathy was truly afraid.

"Ok Mel, spill, what's the catch? You're being too nice."

"I've got a surprise for you, that's all." Kath stopped in the middle of the street, completely nonplussed but still unable to believe her. Mel must have noticed, for she stopped and turned around. Kathy could see the corners of her mouth twitching as if she were holding back laughter. "What? You've been really good the past few weeks, putting up with me and the lectures I have to drag you to. Though you may not believe it, you've earned a little reward."

"And it doesn't involve humiliation or bodily harm?"

"Well, that depends on the exact meaning of the words..." With that irritating little grin again, Mel turned and started walking. Kathy had no choice but to follow her, or else risk not knowing where their stuff was. By and by they came to a fairly nice inn, one that had stagecoaches in the stables instead of individual horses. In fact, it looked like an in for...

"Caravans? Here?"

"Yeah. I decided to stay here...it's easier to trade with caravans when they're resting."

Mel led them inside, and Kathy was surprised when she led her not to the front desk, as was usual, but straight into the dining room. Only a couple of caravans seemed to be stationed in there at the moment, but one was certainly familiar, and they all cried out their welcome when they saw her again.

"Mel...how did you...?"

"You think I don't know when you sneak off? You're forgetting what I've been doing the past six years, aren't you? I followed you, making sure you were okay, and talked with them after I got you back to the inn the next day. They're all right, and made last minute plans to come further north before swinging back southeast to go home. I made arrangements to meet up with them here...I'm going to bodyguard for them back to their home."

"Why?"

"Three reasons: it's decent money, it's where I need to go next, and it's people you like."

"You really thought about me?"

"You act like I'm the wicked little sister or something." Only then could Kathy clearly see the hurt she'd caused in Mel's eyes; Mel really had thought about her, and tried to make the next stage of the journey as comfortable as possible for her. The full impact hit her...Mel thought about her, cared about what she liked and didn't like, and tried to help her out. Maybe...for once in her life...she might have misjudged her sister.

"Thanks, Mel. Let me go introduce you, okay?"


	4. The Life and Death of a God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rated M for mild sexual references, drug use, and emotional trauma.
> 
> She'd never understood the details of the world with the clarity her sister had, but the one thing she finally understands is the only thing she wished she didn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is placed two years after they came into this world. I needed to flesh out the relationship they had in the past, when they were younger. This chapter explains a lot, but I do warn you that you may not want to read it if you've suffered from extreme depression currently or in the past.

“Wait, wait, waitwaitwaitwaitwait! You _so_ did not just say what I think you said?!”

“Well, if what you think I said was ‘the nature of our enemy is a god, and I have to go kill it’, then…”

“Mel, back up and think about what you just said. Our enemy is…God?”

“ _A_ god, Kathy…not the one we know…however casually.” Kathy heard the last bit of the sentence, despite Mel dropping into an undertone, but at least she wasn’t trying to be offensive that time. Even more, she had a point…for as much Kathy had carnally sinned (and loved every moment of it), Mel had completely renounced her parent’s Orthodox Catholicism when she was just eight years old. “And yes, I am completely serious about this. We seriously pissed off something very powerful, and the only way this will end is with its’ death.” 

Kathy could only stare at her little sister, who was calmly sipping on some mead across the table from her, as if they were only discussing weather. “Ok…we have to kill a god, and you’re so calm about this…why? I mean, how can you even kill a god?”

“What order would you like that answered in?” Kathy caught the little impish glint in Mel’s eyes that time, and wondered just when she became so easy to read. She was making light of this entire situation, and Kathy wanted to know why.

“How about telling me how you can kill a god first. Do you even have a plan?”

“Somewhat. You mind if I ramble a bit? There’s some important information I need to sort through, but I don’t think you’ll understand it all.” It was something she’d done before, using her as a ‘sounding board’, as she called it. Bored was right, though…she could delve into such technical arguments that Kathy often nodded off during it. Recently, though, she noticed she wasn’t getting smacked awake nearly as much as usual for it.

“Ramble away, if you don’t mind me napping.”

“Try to stay awake. This could be important to you, too. So…tell me, Kathy, what exactly is a god?” And, just like that, she’d floored her with the very first sentence out of her mouth. So much for keeping up.

“Well…a god is…a god? It just is, isn’t it?”

“Yes and no. Think it through. What qualities do we think of when we think about a god?”

“Ok…all-powerful comes to mind…lightning bolts and burning bushes…lots and lots of rules…and boring ceremonies that last for hours and hours.”

“Not what I had in mind, but succinct enough and close enough to the truth of the matter. What we call a god is a powerful being that we, as a collective, worship. In exchange, this powerful being bestows things upon the ones who follow it. Gods can be benevolent…healing the sick and protecting crops and such for its’ worshipers…or they can be malevolent…forcing people to worship out of fear of death and destruction.”

“God doesn’t seem to do any of those things.”

“Heh…one would say that the God we know isn’t really involved in our world or its’ worshipers, though others would disagree. All depends on your point of view. So, one could say that our God is neutral, neither benevolent nor malevolent. Here though, gods tend to be a lot more hands-on with their worshipers.”

“Oh…like in Greek mythology, Zeus coming down to earth and everything?”

“Yeah…” Kathy laughed at the look on her sister’s face, having clearly not expected even that much from her. “Huh…let me guess, you remembered only that much because of Zeus’ stories, right?”

“Sure. I used to dream that a god would come down from the heavens and have his way with me.”

“…I sincerely hope you’re joking.”

“That’d be telling, little sis.” 

“Ewww…cannot unsee!” Kathy laughed as Mel took a huge swig of the mead, clearly trying to wipe even the imagined image from her mind. It occurred to Kathy that this was probably the closest she’d ever come to having ‘girl talk’ with Mel, and that she didn’t really mind. Moreover, she was actually enjoying the talk with her sister, despite the whole ‘I have to kill god’ thing.

“So…hands-on gods…”

“Right. The gods and goddesses worshipped here draw their power from their followers. One could say that they feed off of peoples’ prayers and sacrifices. This is what gives classes like Clerics and Paladins their powers…they ask their god for certain effects, and so long as they meet the right conditions, they are granted these effects. These effects cover a lot of things, from healing to smiting.”

“So every time you’ve healed me, you’ve been asking a god to do it for you?”

“No…I draw my magic from myself, using my knowledge instead of my faith to enable the transference of…” She broke off abruptly, glancing at Kathy with a slightly guilty flush, and looked back down. “Sorry…I mean that I get my magical power from books, not gods. The gods here don’t even acknowledge me.”

“You’ve actually tried?”

“A couple of times, at some shrines and temples. I think that because we’re not of this world, or even of this universe, that most of them can’t see us.”

“So if they can’t see us, why is one of them after us?”

“Best guess? It’s the one that brought us here…the one I accidentally summoned.”

“So, most of the gods can’t see us, but the one that can is the one that’s the cause of all this mess, and it just happens to be pissed off at you.”

“…yeah.” Kathy was about to launch into a full tirade, one to rival any of the thousands that she’d received from Mel, but something stopped her cold. Mel was just sitting there, looking out the window instead of looking at her, and it seemed like nothing was wrong. But the normal Mel would be far more animated, especially when talking about the weird gobbledygook that made up this crazy world. All at once, Kathy realized something she hadn’t seen in two years…Mel really regretted coming here. Maybe not the being here and all…she’d taken to the world like a duck to water. She regretted entangling Kathy in the mess. And here she was, finding any and every way to get back home, because she felt responsible for everything that had happened in the past two years. “…go ahead, Kath. Whatever you have to say, I deserve.”

“Fine then. You said you had an idea about what to do?” Mel looked at Kathy, and she could see the wariness in her eyes, waiting for the torrent of words she thought she deserved.

“Kind of. This god that I pissed off, I think it’s an older god. Powerful, yes, but the gods here are only as powerful as the ones who worship it. If this really is an old god, then it will have few followers, perhaps none.”

“So what? It can’t hurt us because people don’t pray to it anymore?”

“Not quite…it can still hurt us plenty. But…well…think of everything that worshipers do, from prayer to sacrifice to common cursing, as snacks that a god eats. The more snacks they get, the stronger they become, and the more they help or hurt their followers. It’s an endless cycle, when it’s done right. But a god that has been forgotten, one that is no longer worshiped, has not eaten in hundreds, maybe thousands of years. It will be strong, but it will not be invincible. Also, it’ll be exposed…no one guarding temples or holy relics, which is where they receive the largest amounts of power. A god with no followers is desperate, because it is really just waiting to truly die, an event that might never occur. Stuck in limbo…power enough to influence some things, but never true power, and never adoration. An eternal hell, if you ask me.” Mel glanced askance at her, a tiny smirk lifting up the corner of her mouth. “Like a Saturday night for you without the rest of the football team.” 

“And don’t you forget it…those are days I never want to relive again.” This turned the smirk into a genuine smile, and Mel faced her once again. “So, we have this god who hasn’t eaten any god-snacks and is fucking around with us because it wants to try and kill us so we can hurry up and kill it?”

“I guess you could look at it like that. It’s only a theory, though. I need to do some research.” Kathy groaned at that…’research’ for Mel often meant spending days upon weeks scouring dusty libraries and stuffy towers for obscure references. Kathy had hated being forced into the school library for class assignments, and the lack of A.C. made Mel’s ‘research’ a living nightmare. “Don’t worry…I’ll do the hard work on that. I’ve got something else for you to do.”

“Like…?” Mel’s ideas for her solo projects could sometimes be worse than the actual research. But, to her pleasant surprise, Mel simply reached for her satchel and withdrew two tightly closed leather bags, setting them on the small table in front of her.

“I’ve been doing some careful selling and saving…we’ve got enough money now to live for over a year without doing any adventuring. I think we’ll stay in this city for a while…the library and mage guild are both top notch, and I’ll need both of them to do this research. I want you to go out and rent us a home…nothing fancy, but it doesn’t have to be in the slums, either. Suburbs, I guess, if you can find something like that here. You can rent it furnished or not, it doesn’t matter…I can make some decent furniture in my off time if I need to. We’ll need supplies for our home…make sure you get things like firewood and linens, bedding and such. And…this is just for you.” She pushed the smaller of the two bags to her. “There’s 10,000 gold in there…enough to live like a duchess for a while, if you’re careful. Enough for a lifetime here if you’re frugal. It’s not all of our money, not by a long shot, but it’s something I’ve been putting aside especially for you. I know you miss a lot of the stuff we had at home. Use this, and get yourself some nice things.”

“Geez, Mel, I…” Kathy was truly stunned at this spout of generosity from her normally stingy sister. As usual, the normal wariness came right behind the rush of gratefulness…traditionally, Mel never did something like this without some kind of ultimatum. “Ok, what’s the catch to this one?”

“Besides putting up with my research and finding out that I have to kill a god? Nothing. I want you to be happy for a while, Kath. Once I finish my research, or once this god gets bored, things are gonna get beyond interesting. I want you to relax and enjoy yourself while you can.

“Ok, are you sick or something?” Kathy immediately reached across the table to put a hand across Mel’s forehead, which Mel immediately pulled away from. She wasn’t quick enough to disguise the heat coming off of her, though. “You are sick, aren’t you? For real, I mean…”

“It’s nothing some rest can’t take care of, and it’s not affecting my decision. Take the money, find us a house, then take the rest of the day for yourself if you want. We can worry about getting set up in home tomorrow.”

“And what will you do? Start your research?”

“Not today, I think. Would you mind so much if I slept for a while?” Considering the fact that Mel hadn’t seemed to take a day off in the entire two years they’d been wandering around, even Kathy would have felt like an ass for denying her that much.

“Sure. You want me to bring you back something to eat?”

“Nah…if I get hungry, I’ll get something downstairs. Just be careful when you’re out tonight…you know the rules.”

“With as many times as you’ve smacked them in to me? No problem…you just rest.”

“Thanks, Kath.” Mel didn’t seem to want to engage in any more conversation, so Kathy took the hint and left the room with the two bags of money tucked into a safe pocket of her belt. Mel often gave her a hard time about her never being able to adapt to this world, but she had picked up quite a few things after two years. She asked the innkeeper about who she would see about getting a house, then went to the broker and chatted him up about the houses he had available. Mel didn’t really know, but she had learned to use her ‘feminine wiles’, what Mel would call ‘seduction skill’, in order to get them heavy discounts on certain items before. All it took for the house broker was a quick rub-and-tug for him to offer her a house, fully furnished, in the upper-middle-class district, immediately for complete sale at a fraction of the cost of rental. The money Mel had given her for the rent easily covered it, not even chipping into half of it, and she took the broker’s recommendations for a maid and houseman. The married couple he introduced to her, a matronly sort in her thirties and a distinguished gentleman in his forties, seemed both competent and friendly, and she couldn’t pin any duplicity on their part. She started them immediately, instructing them to air out the home and get it ready, as well as giving them a portion of money to purchase the necessities, and told them she’d be back with her ‘brother’ tomorrow.

Following business always came pleasure, though in the past Kathy wouldn’t have even bothered with the ‘business’ half…her life being a string of dates and parties and drunkenness, while dumping all her homework and chores and after-party cleanup onto Mel’s shoulders. As a result, Mel was probably the only grade-schooler able to do basic trig, though she was never given any acknowledgement for it. She sometimes wondered why Mel had put up with everything, especially after they came here. Now, however, she felt good finishing her tasks and could completely focus on having fun. First on the agenda was going to a gambling den she’d been to a couple of times before. While there she managed to manipulate both cards and dice enough to earn an additional 5,000 gold on top of the 10,000 she’d been given before leaving, fearing either her luck running out or the patrons figuring out her game. Second, she found a reputable dressmaker and put in an order for several new dresses, tailored to her and made of some of the finest materials available, to be delivered to her new address. Her ‘traveling clothes’ were getting grungy, and she looked forward to burning them at the first opportunity. Some jewelry and perfume came next, and she was still very flush concerning her gold. With little else to do and with the sun getting ready to set on her, she returned to the inn, notified the innkeeper that she and her ‘brother’ would be checking out in the morning, and ordering the best of their food up to their room for dinner. Pleased with herself and all she’d accomplished, she returned to their shared room to tell Mel about her day, certain that she would be happy with her progress for once.

Something was wrong, though, and she immediately felt it as soon as she opened the door. No candles were lit, and Mel was neither studying at the table nor in bed, sleeping. Kathy had spent more than enough time in this world to recognize that something really bad had likely happened and that the danger hadn’t necessarily passed. She drew the dagger Mel forced her to carry and edged around the bed, listening for anything that might betray an assassin or thief that was still there. Nothing popped out, and the dagger fell from her hand as soon as she saw the area between the other side of the bed and the window. Hidden from sight from the doorway, Mel was collapsed in a heap, not moving and breathing so shallowly that it was hard to tell. A piece of parchment was on the floor near her, her hand reaching out for it as if it had dropped when she collapsed.

_The bedroom was quiet…she figured Mel would be talking to herself while she wrote stories or scenes or whatever it was she wrote for her freaky little friends, and seeing as mom and dad hadn’t learned to take away her notebooks and pens when they grounded her she could still have a good time while being punished. The notebook was on the bed, laying open and dark with her cramped writing, but it looked like she’d stepped out of the room for a little bit. Kathy picked up the notebook to read the current page…since Mel didn’t keep a diary, this was the only way to get juicy little secrets she could hold over her little sister’s head when she even thought about telling mom and dad that she’d been sneaking out to go to parties with the kids from high school._

The parchment trembled in her hand, and Kathy belatedly realized that not only had she picked it up, she was trembling uncontrollably. The handwriting was Mel’s and it didn’t seem like she was stopped in the middle of writing…it was too neat, written like a letter, and even signed at the bottom.

**Dear Kathy—**

_I’m tired of this I’m tired of school I’m tired of being bored and I’m reallyreallyreally tired of being Kath’s slave…_

**I’m sorry to do this to you again, Kathy, but it’s necessary. I already know what to do about this god, and I knew that you wouldn’t approve.**

_Always in trouble because I take the blame, not allowed to have any fun, mom and dad think I’m possessed and Kath couldn’t care less so long as she gets drunk and gets guys to screw her and uses me to look like a straight A student…_

**You didn’t do anything to push me into this, Kathy. I need to go to the realm of this god, and it’d take twenty or thirty years before I could figure out how to do it with a physical body.**

_I’m done I’m done I’m so done with this I don’t want to be here anymore and maybe if I don’t have a physical body I can go to my world as my spirit my soul…_

**I’m sorry I lied to you about staying here for the library and everything. I had to make sure you’d be gone most of the day so I could complete the spell before the poison spread too far.**

_Already took the drugs should kick in before mom and dad wake up and Kath snuck out again but even if she comes back it’s not like she’d care too much I’m not the only one she does this to but I guess I’m just the most convenient…_

**Please enjoy the house you picked out today. I know you’ll get something nice, a good place to live. You can easily live off of the money I gave you today, and if you need more I have three more pouches in my satchel. It’s too late in the year for you to travel anywhere else, but if you don’t like this town you can hire a coach and go wherever you want from here. Whatever will make you happy.**

_No more annoying sister no more geeky sister no more weird sister my death should make her happy…_

**I’m off to the final battle. It may take a while, but I will kill him. I just don’t think I’ll make it out alive afterwards. But once his spell is broken, you can go home…your real home…and continue the life you had there. I’ll keep an eye on you, but you’ll have to clean up your own messes for now.**

_She can take care of her own messes see how she likes it see how long she survives when she fails school and gets caught by mom and dad and gets STDs and gets alcohol poisoning and dies I hope it’s soon veryvery soon…_

**I know I never got much of a chance to say it, but I do love you Kathy. I may not like what you did when we were kids, but I helped you every single time because I love you. You’ve grown up a lot. I’m proud of what you’ve become. Please take care of yourself from now on. I don’t want to see you in the afterlife any time soon.**

Kathy moved before she even realized she’d moved, out the door and downstairs to bang on the owner’s door until he opened it, dressed in a sleeping gown and looking angrily disheveled. 

“Whadda want? Y’know the time???”

“Please, you have to get a doctor!” Her urgency must have caught him off guard, as the upset look melted to one of worry and concern.

“A what?”

“A…a healer! Cleric, druid, shaman, whatever you call it! My sister’s dying upstairs and she needs help!”

Her shouting had not just woken up the owner but also most of the current guests that were staying overnight. A young man dressed in leggings and pulling on a multi-pocketed blue jacket rushed to her.

“I’m a healer. What happened to her?” She tugged on his hand towards the stairway, talking quickly as they moved.

“She’s poisoned herself, but I don’t know what it is! She did this to go to the god-realm or something but she’s still a bit alive! You have to help her!” They entered the room, and the young man walked to the other side of the bed and knelt down next to Mel, checking over her body quickly in the manner of any experienced doctor on Earth.

“We’ve got some time. You must have caught her just after she collapsed. I’ll need some help carrying her to my room downstairs…I’ve got the necessary equipment down there to stop this before it gets worse.” It took a moment to realize that the last statement wasn’t directed at her, but to the people who’d followed them upstairs to gawk. Two men ran over and, between the three of them, made a makeshift gurney out of the bedsheet and proceeded to run downstairs, most of the crowd following them. Still stunned by the current events, Kathy tried to follow but only had the strength to sit on the side of the bed as her knees came out. A moment later, a kind-faced woman knelt in front of her, dabbing at the tears she wasn’t even aware she was shedding.

“There there dearie…everything will be all right, you’ll see. You and your sister must be very close, aren’t you?” The irony stung and only served to make her cry harder. “Shh…it’s okay now. Come along, let me take you to my room and we’ll get something to settle those nerves, all right?” Unable to resist, she followed the woman’s lead as they walked out of the door and into an adjacent room on the upper floor. Minutes later, she had a cup of steaming tea in her hands and a quilt around her shoulders while the kind woman fussed over her. She didn’t need any encouragement to drink the cup in one go, and she welcomed the temporary oblivion that followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And before anyone sends me flames about this, I do know how Mel feels. Firsthand. And I don't really want to talk about it.


End file.
